Noida-based online peerto-peer lending platform i2iFunding has raised Rs 2 crore in an angel funding by a group of investors.

The investment comes in the wake of the freshly released Reserve Bank of India consultation paper that suggests that peer-to-peer lending platforms need to have equity capital to start operations."This round of funding gets us to a comfortable position in terms of the capital requirement that has been set out by the RBI," said chief executive Vaibhav Pandey.

"The five cofounders, who had started the company seven months back, had put in seed investments from their own pockets. With this infusion of Rs 2 crore, our capital requirements ' would be comfortably met."

Pandey didn't name the new investors, but said they were "industry veterans". An individual looking for credit can submit his personal details on i2iFunding's online platform. The company's credit assessment mechanism decides how much credit the person is worthy of, and then it invites investors to pool in money and lend to the individual at a decided rate of interest.

The company, which currently has operations in the NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru, plans to expand to 20 cities over the next year. It is aiming also to increase lending activities from just personal loans to salaried individuals at present to business loans for micro, small and even medium enterprises.

"To expand into the MSME portfolio, we need to hire fresh talents in the field of technology and get consultants to ensure that our credit evaluation methodology for the self-employed and businessmen is robust and full proof," said Pandey.

The platform has so far helped disburse Rs 50 lakh of loans to more than 1,000 borrowers with money from over 200 investors. Now, with the central bank coming out with a consultation paper and formally recognising this sector, Pandey is targeting Rs 5 crore of loan disbursal per month from next year.

The peer-to-peer lending sector, which till date was running unregulated, has recently attracted the attention of the RBI. Governor Raghuram Rajan, in his last monetary policy statement, spoke about the potential of this sector and the need to regulate it. The central bank released a consultation paper asking for suggestions on how to regulate the sector. The formal recognition helped nascent technology startups in this segment to look at a higher valuation and more interest from investors.